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.66th Congress, 
2d /Session. 



HOUSE OF EEPEESENTATIVES. 



Report 

No. 507. 



PROGRESS OF WORK BY JOINT RECLASSIFICATION COM- 
MISSION—EXTENDING TIME FOR FINAL REPORT. 



Dkcember 17, 1919. — Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the state 
of the Union and ordered to be printed. 



Mr. Lehlbach, from the^^Committee on Reform in the Civil Service, 
submitted the following 

REPORT. 

[To accompany H.J. Res. 263.] 

The Committee on Reform in the Civil Service, to which was 
referred House- joint resolution 263, reports the same to the House 
with a recommendation that the resolution be agreed to. 

The reasons upon which your committee bases its recommendation 
are found in the subjoined statement of the joint commission. 

The Joint Commission on Reclassification of Salaries and its staff of retained experts 
and employees detailed fi'om the departments are now rounding up their work. They 
are dri^'ing toward the completion of the largest and most important classification: 
of positions and standardization of salaries ever undertaken. 

All told, the commission has been obliged to study 107,000 positions of employees 
of all ranks in scientific, administrative, clerical, skilled trades, and other ser-sdces. 
The commission's jurisdiction is limited to the positions in the Federal departments 
and independent establishments, and the municipal government, within the District 
Columbia. But the total of these positions is over 30,000 more than have been studied 
in any previous classification of positions of a city, a State, or a nation. It also em- 
braces a greater variety. 

These positions are those of the employees of the central Government of the United 
States, and therefore the work of the commission is of really great national importance. 

The law requires the commission to report such proposed reclassification of positions- 
and readjustment of compensation as will "provide uniform and equitable pay for 
the same character of employment." This meant equitable not alone to the em- 
ployees, but also to the taxpayers. This mandate, of course, forbade anything like 
guesswork. It required a most careful comparison of the duties of the thousands of 
positions comprised in the various classes of the various services. If the classification 
was to be trustworthy, it necessitated painstaking investigation and intensive study. 
This complicated work has been carried forward according to a comprehensive pro- 
gram adopted after careful deliberation with the counsel of experts and on the 
basis of experience elsewhere in modern, scientific, and practical reclassification. 

The basic Avork of classification is now at the stage where specifications of the various, 
classes of positions in each service are being issued and studied by Cabinet officers 
and other department heads, and by representative committees of administrators 
and of employees. Each set of these class specifications includes: (]) The title of 
the class of positions; (2) a statement of the duties of the positions in the class regard- 
less of their departmental location; (3) a statement of the qualifications required for 






ClC]-^ 



2 PEOGRESS OF WORK BY JOINT RECLASSIFICATIOlSr COMMISSION". 

the performance of these duties; and (4) suggested lines of promotion, on a merit basis, 
ifrom the class and to the class. 

These specifications are the absolutely indispensable basis for the hearings now being 
lield by the commission — hearings which will save much time for Congress later. At 
these hearings briefs are presented and suggestions are offered on two topics: (1) The 
•classification itself as shown by the specifications, and (2) proposals on salary schedules 
for the classes specified. Never before i.i the history of the Governm.ent have depart- 
anent heads, administrators, and employees been called on to give such concentrated 
-attention to the duties of and qualifications required for the work of the various classes 
of positions. Never before have salary proposals been perforce related to specifications. 

Heretofore the titles of positions appearing in appropriation bills have had virtually 
mo specifications of duties and qualifications back of them. The absence of such speci- 
fications has helped to bring about marked inequalities of pay for the same character 
•of work. Statistics now being compiled for the commission which show the exact 
facts about the inequalities of pay within each of the various classes of positions. 
These inequalities have bred unrest in the Government service. The newer Members 
-of the Congress may not appreciate the need for nor the magnitude of the work of 
this reclassification. But the older Members, on whose initiative the commission 
was created, were moved by a realization of the need. They realized not only the lack 
•of uniformity in pay for the same work, but also the lack of a scientific standard for 
iixing salaries. 

Parallel to its scientific classification of positions, the commission is carrying for- 
Tvard work on salary schedules. These will as a rule inchide a minimum and a maxi- 
3num for each class. For the fixing of the schedule for each class, facts have been 
^gathered and are being studied on the following: (1) Salaries paid outside the Govern- 
ment service in positions where the duties and qualifications are comparable to those 
'Of Government positions; (2) minimum, most common, and maximum Government 
ssalaries now paid in the District of Columbia; (.3) what salaries administrators say are 
required to secure and to retain efficient employees; (4) what the employees say they 
think they should receive; (5) changes since 1914 in the cost of living. One impor- 
-tant consideration is that of equity in pay not only as lietween the classes of varying 
a-ank within a given service, but as between the classes in the different services 

To gather and to consider comprehensively all the facts involved means a vast 
amount of detail Work. Classifications elsewhere have required years. The Congress 
gave the present commission months. The act provides that January 12 next is the 
time for its final report. Its members were appointed last March. The commission 
iproceeded without delay to organize, employ a clerk, and get its work under way. 
It consulted, besides departmental officials who had taken part in similar work, 
experts who had been connected with municipal and State classifications both East 
:and West and with the classification since then adopted unanimously by the Parlia- 
jnent of the Dominion of Canada. 

The commission retained the firm of American experts who had done the Canadian 
'.classification to direct the work as its headquarters staff. It retained also a member 
.■of the staff of a municipal civic agency to be in immediate charge of special economic 
and employment research. It secured from the departments, as authorized by the 
act, the detail of a statistician, a staff of classifiers and investigators, and a force of 
record clerks,. stenographers, and typists. The detailed classifiers and investigators 
as a rule had not had previous experience in classifying positions. But all have worked 
with a will in applying the principles of a classification on the basis of duties and 
qualifications. Moreover, the commission has had the assistance of advisory com- 
mittees of civic leaders, employees, and administrators. 

Much night Work is being done just now by the commission and its staff. The 
object is to bring the commission's work to a finish by January 12. To further the 
Work of the commission most- of the employees detailed from the departments have 
deferred taking annual leave until December, but with the intention of taking vaca- 
tions during the Christmas holidays. While some have already taken vacations, and 
others have expressed a willingness, if necessary, to forego theirs, it is evident that for 
;:10 days or more the work of the commission must be unavoidably held back. 

Part of the night work is being devoted to the completion of specifications — a difii- 
-cult task which has required many months of study, writing, and editing. These 
-apecifications are the necessary preliminary to holding hearings. All of the tentative 
ispecifications will be completed by Wednesday evening, December 17. While many 
tiearings have already been held, the remainder are scheduled to follow continuously 
Aintil December 30. 

After the hearings two important steps remain. One is to give careful considera- 
tion to criticisms and constructive suggestions receiA^ed at hearings. The second is 
to give comprehensive consideration to all of the factors that should go into the 
jrecommendations on salaries. « " q^ *i , 



PROGEESS OF WORK BY JOINT RECLASSIFICATION COMMISSION". 3 

By holding holiday sessions and night sessions until January 12 it would be popsible 
for the commission to turn in a classification of positions and a schedule of proposed 
salaries, together with a report of transmittal. But if it were given some more time 
it could better digest the vast amount of material in hand, compile many statistical 
exhibits of permanent value, and prepare a matiu-ed report of the reasons for its 
recommendations. These facts properly raise the question of the advisability of 
extending the time of the commission. Some pertinent points are: 

First. No additional appropriation for the work of the commission would be required 
by an extension of not more than 60 days. 

Second. The relation between appropriation bills and the proposed reclassifica- 
tion law defining classes and establishing standard schedules of pay involves installa- 
tion problems and many others of great practical importance on which the com- 
mission must make recommendations. 

Third. This Federal classification will undoubtedly set a precedent for others — 
in States, cities, and industries throughout the Nation. 

Under all the circumstances it would be reasonable for the Congress to extend 
until not later than March 12 the time for the filing of the commission's report on 
this important and far-reaching piece of work. 

o 



Caylord Bros, 

Makers 
Syracuse. N. Y. 

PAT. JAN. 21, 1908 




